Mohegan Sun opening new casino

Thursday

Aug 28, 2008 at 12:01 AM

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Mohegan Sun, already one of the largest gambling facilities in the world, will open a new casino Friday even as the industry struggles to draw customers amid a weak economy and high gas prices.

JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Mohegan Sun, already one of the largest gambling facilities in the world, will open a new casino Friday even as the industry struggles to draw customers amid a weak economy and high gas prices.

The 64,000-square-foot Casino of the Wind includes a 42-table poker room, more than 650 slot machines and 28 table games. The new space is the first phase of Mohegan Sun's $925 million expansion, which will include a 920-room hotel and more stores and restaurants when finished in 2010.

"It shows we're continuing to evolve," said Mitchell Etess, president and chief executive officer at Mohegan Sun. "We need to do things to make people want to come here and there's no doubt adding new exciting attractions accomplishes that goal. I think people are really going to be amazed how beautiful and visually stimulating the Casino of the Wind is."

Mohegan Sun, owned by the Mohegan Tribe, is in Uncasville in eastern Connecticut, nearly 50 miles southeast of Hartford and about nine miles west of Foxwoods Resort Casino.

The opening comes three months after Foxwoods, run by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, opened its $700 million MGM Grand. The 30-story, 2-million-square-foot property includes a new casino, hotel, a 4,000-seat performing arts theater, restaurants run by celebrity chefs, luxury stores, the largest ballroom in the Northeast and new convention space to accommodate thousands.

Both Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods are hoping the new gambling centers will boost business. Both reported decreases in their July slot machine revenue.

At Mohegan Sun, slots slipped about 14.6 percent or $16.1 million from July 2007, when the casino hit an unprecedented high point as more than $1 billion flowed through its slot machines. Foxwoods posted a 3.2 percent decrease in slot machine income compared with July 2007, or about $2.4 million.

The casinos had experienced eight months of declines in slot revenue until May, when they went up two-tenths of a percent at Mohegan Sun and 7.7 percent at Foxwoods. The Foxwoods spike was attributed to the opening of MGM Grand.

The casinos have cited rising energy prices, diminished consumer confidence and competition from other casinos.

Clyde Barrow, who directs the University of Massachusetts New England Gaming Research Project, said that while the timing of the new space at Mohegan Sun may not be ideal, the project makes sense in the long run. He said the new casino will be in place to capture growth once the economy improves.

Mohegan Sun is reintroducing poker, which it discontinued a few years ago, as the game has grown in popularity in recent years. Its first major poker tournament is planned for October.

The new slot machines add about 10 percent to the 6,000 slots the casino has now. That will free up space for large crowds to gamble, such as when concerts end, Etess said.

The new project does not substantially expand gambling, but Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods are trying to become national destinations with more entertainment and convention meeting space, Barrow said. Toward that end, Mohegan Sun is planning concerts by Janet Jackson, Enrique Iglesias and The Who to celebrate its new casino.

A two-story Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville restaurant will open next month. The restaurant is the best grossing restaurant in Las Vegas, according to Etess.